2012-02-03
So-so
Tim Hanlon's book tells the story of FC Barcelona. The book covers a little bit of the Dream-Team era of FCB but focuses primarily from the late 1990s through to the winning of the Champions League final in 2011. Whilst it opens promisingly (with the election of Joan Laporta) and provides some background to FCB - Chapter 2 is of particular interest. It doesn't tell you anything new. As a matter-of-fact it reads like a recitation of all the well-known points but doesn't provide any real investigation of the subject. And oftentimes it repeats commonly told stories which read like headlines and quotes out of a newspaper. However, it'll do as an introduction of sorts to FCB.
On the down-side, it's ridden with typo's e.g. mis-speilling Henrik Larsson's name on the same page; Gary Lineker spelt as 'Linekar'; 'past fit' for passed-fit etc. etc. So it could really do with another proof-read. For a better intro to FCB, I'd recommend Barça - A People's Passion by Jimmy Burns.